Evening Star Newspaper, November 14, 1936, Page 11

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‘MURAL INING ADVANCES UNDER FEDERAL PATRONAG THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1936. “The Evolution of Western Civilization,” one panel of a series by James Mi 1] included in the W_P. 4. cohibis at the Navional Muserm . ’ chast Wemelly ART PROJECT WORKS SHOWN Comprehensive Exhibit Brought From New York to National Museum Reveals Some Results of Experiment in Social Welfare—Coming Treasury Showing. Art Project has brought opportunity. With these facts in mind it will readily be understaod that the usual and accepted standards of judgment cannot be applied to the works so procured and now exhibited. This art project, framed and administered by the Federal Government, is a new experiment in social welfare and eco- nomic justice, and must be regarded primarily as such. Neither by one year of activity nor an exhibition or two can its merit be measured or its success assured. IN THE current exhibition, emphasis has been placed, as it was in New York, on mural painting to which, under Government patronage, great impetus has been given of late. Actually, a mural painting can be properly judged only on the wall for which it was designed and executed, but effort has been made to recreate nvironment by setting up small odels of rooms, on the walls of which the new-made paintings are to be seen. There are three of these in the present showing, the most elaborate | of which is the library of the Evander Childs High School in the Bronx, New York, around the walls of which run & most elaborate mural in fresco by James Michael Newell, formerly of Washington, representing “The Evolu- tion of Western Civilization.” Near this model hangs a large panel of cotton picking in the South, actual size, as it appears on the wall back of the librarian’s desk, and nearby are a series of progress photographs showing the work under development, | and a case containing colors, tools and other paraphernalia. Newell was a trained and ex- perienced mural painter when he took over this work, and he has put his best into it, a monumental achievement. In color it admirably accords with the wood work and furnjshings of the room, the walls of which it covers— but whether it decorates that room and accords with its architectural de- sign, whether it conduces to a sense of quiet and contemplative receptivity on the part of the youthful readers for whose use the library is purposed— are other matters’ which would seem to have had very little consideration. That is one of the interesting and rather preplexing things about this ' in a hospital, to observe on the walls of the walting room or hallway opera- tions in progress, or ghostly masked figures engaged in professional tasks, or will the mind of the young and pressionable be led to heights of piration by viewing puzzle pictures made up of devices representing mechanical power? It is doubtful. Obviously art attains significance not through subjective significance but the doing—beauty lies not merely in the thing itself but in the way it is done. However, in the choice of sub- ject matter there may be fitness and reflection of taste. The ugly and the commonplace can only stir our emo- tions when uplifted and glorified by the genius of a master-seer, inter- | preted by a master-artist. Such are | rare. 'RIC MOSE, the brother of Carl Mose, the sculptor, has- painted for the Samuel Gompers High School, New York, two long panels represent- ing “Power”; for the House of Deten= tion for Women, New York, Lucienne Bloch has done a series setting forth the “Cycle of a Woman's Life,” one panel of which, showing children at play in a city play yard, is exhibited. Wiliiam C. Palmer has graphically pictured “The Foibles of Medicine™” for the Queens General Hospital; Karl Kelpe shows the “Early Life in Illinois” in a composite picture with wood- sawyers in the foreground; Edgar Britton has painted for the Bloom Township High School, Chicago, pic- torial and very realistic studies and their application—chiefly scientific— as decorations for a class room, Unique but by no means pride provocative are panels in tempera on gesso by Mitchell Siporin of Illinois represent- ing “Lincoln and Altgeld,” “Jane Adams” and “Children in Literature”— | all very homely and very plain. But from these and murals by Edward Millman representing suffering occa- sioned by drought, the visitor will turn with pleasure to the series of children playing, animals and flowers, done by dren's ward of the Research and Edu- cational Hospital of the University of Illinois. “Conference,” an oil painting by Jack Levine of Massachu= setts, included in the W. P. A. exhibit at the National Museum. significant. All in all, the murals take distinctly front rank in the pres- | ent show, Will the art section of |the Procurement Division of the | Landmark”—a statue of a Civil War | soldier on a pedestral before the d\)ol'i of a G. A. R. hall. These, with | “School's Out” a street and play- | Rainey Bennett for the cripple chil-' Treasury Department, with its greater | resources and professional clientele, score still better in its exhibition in the Corcoran Gallery of Art next week? We shall see. IN ORDERLY array, easel paintings in oils and water colors follow :'.he murals in this exhibition. There | are only 10 or 12 of each, and when it is recalled that of these works over 3,000 have been produced for Government wage, and use, during | the past year, under the Federal Art | Project, it is not unreasonable to expect these to be outstanding for | merit. But instead, they are, for the | most part, grotesque and depressingly | unlovely. The interest they must |arouse is through their unique in- dividuality. Louis Guglieloni pictures, with meticulous care and detail, & “Wedding on South Street, New York,” in which the departure of the bride charming in color and delightfully ture of skiers descending a snowy | ground scene by Allen Crite of Mas- sachusetts, and a “San Francisco | Street,” by Hilaire Hiler of California, | together with two still-life subjects— | both well done—by Elizabeth Terrell and J. Pandolfini, respectively, com- | | plete the showing of easel paintings |in ofl. Among the water colors, occupying | an opposite alcove, there is perhaps | more variety as well as promise. Here a broad view of the “Ohio River in Flood,” by John Stenvall, has much {in merit to commend it. “Lonesome | Farm,” by Raymond Breinin, has| | dramatic quality, and “Start of Wild | Horse Race,” by John Walley, action :lnd organization. Also a portrait of | “Mrs. Simmons,” by Samuel J. Brown, is structurally good and very well ren- dered. But here, as in the oil-paint- ing group, there is no evidence of | interpretative power, no apparent | comprehension ~ of, or desire fo beauty. In practically every instance, | These may not have notable or-|engages attention; Austin Mechlem it is realism, actuality, things that ganization or pattern, but they are has painted from a photograph a pic- | can be touched, illustrated, reported, | | rather than felt, or conceived, that| * B—3 m— b “Ohio River Flood,” a water color by John Stenvall of Illinois, included in the W. P. A. ex- hibit at the Natiopal Museum. 80 and Charles Locke are all well rep- resented — the first named by a de- lightfully humorous as well as ac- complished picture of “The Museum Guard,” standing at the foot of a Victorian bed under a cupid-bedecked canopy, yawning with boredom, while & couple of museum visitors stand by entranced. To keep one’s humor un- tarnished through unending bad times is in itself a notable achievement. A lithograph by J. G. Bettelheim of | “The Unemployed” brings the situa- tion vividly before us. N THE section devoted to the work | of children, done under W. P. A. Art Project instructors, there is al water color painting of “Sea and Rocks” by a Washington boy, Yon Fook, aged 13, of the Americanization School, which of all the works ex- hibited alone indicates a turning to | nature for inspiration and a reaching | Of interest in this | out for beauty. s&ction, especially as indicative of imaginative quality, are marines, “Deep Sea River” and “To the Res- | cue,” by children aged 9 and 12, re- | spectively. ‘The last section of this exhibition is devoted to illustrations made for the Index of American Design, all of which are very accurate. For this in- dex there seemed to be a real need, | to which skillful painters cheerfully accommodated themselves to the dis- cipline of historical fact. Perhaps after all if some of our younger paint- | ers who seem so seriously to lack cre- | ative inspiration would seek outlet in the crafts it might be well, not only for them but for the future of art in America. Here is a horizon which may well be extended. Sculpture takes an important place in this exhibition, although there are only six exhibitors and the majority of the work shown is primitive in its modernity. Most remarked is the of New Mexico, a teamster who has carved statues of saints and the God head with a primitive religious feel= ing such as is found in the ancient santos of the New Mexican missions. Reaching out for original expression, his sculptor has carved in wood & group in which he presents himself as a “Heavy Thinker,” with a tangi- ble load resting on his head and sup- ported by his upraised hands. There this is well. Those in charge of this project, which, by the way, has been administered with great enthusiasm and zeal, do not subscribe to the statement made by a New York critic that a vast amount of very bad work has been brought into existence through this medium. But how could it be otherwise? It was inevi- table. The only danger lies in not frankly recognizing this fact and thus lowering standards by the placement of false values. This is an error, paradoxically, of kindliness, but it may be very harmful. A little stern discipline with standards held high almost invariably serves as a spur to the ambitious. It is through travail, both agonizing and joyous that the great art of the world has been given birth. We must keep the faith even while encouraging novitiates and in- creasing appreciation. It is not a matter of breaking down but of upbuilding. But too long have we eagerly awaited intelligent and gen- erous patronage by our National Gov- ernment of art to quarrel with it now because, perchance, it may seem at times overgenerous and not always discriminating. Interesting Exhibition |at the Arts Club. 'WO exhibitions opened in the Arts Club this week—one of the water colors by Ruth Perkins Safford, and the other of etchings by Louis C. Rosenberg. Mrs. Safford is a mem- ber of the club, as well as of the Bos- ton Arts Club, the Copley Society, North Shore Arts Association and La- guna Beach Artists Group. She | studied under Henry B. Snell. Ernest |L. Major and others and she has exhibited here, in Boston and at La- guna. tended residence on the Pacific Coast, still others in New England. She shows sculpture in wood by Patricino Barela | outdoor studies, flowers, still life and | figures. Her work is strong and sim- | ple and very colorful—what it lacks |in subtlety it makes up in directness |and sincerity. Among the most pleas- ant of her exhibits is a landscape en- | titled “The Good Earth” showing | plowed fields in a mountain valley. | Near this hangs a painting of a branch of apple blossoms seen against the sky, which is very effectively ren- “Sentinel Palms™ is another Some of her water colors were painted here, others during an ex- of architectural themes, and among the | etchings by which he is now represent- | ed at the Arts Club are some of | finest works. But these do not pro- | claim themselves at a glance. They need close inspection, and they re- serve their best for those who linger over them. Rosenberg graduated from the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology in | 1913, leaving behind him a reputation as a brilliant draftsman and designer of the architectural school, destined | to become a tradition. He got to Bos- ton through winning a scholarship | offered by the Architectural Club of | Portland, Oreg., his native city, and he | left Boston, at the completion of his course, as the winner of the Tech- inology Traveling Fellowship. The great war intervened so that it was not until some years later that the | latter award could be put to service. In 1921 a small exhibition of Rosen- berg’s etchings was held in the | American Academy of Rome, but etching was then considered by him as a by-product of architecture, and he returned to America to practice his profession, having obtained a position | in the office of York & Sawyer, New York. For two years, we are told, he made perspective drawings for this well- mown firm, and became known as one of the best men in this field. It was Muirhead Bone, the greatest of all dry-point etchers of today, who, seeing some of Rosenberg's plates, hunted him out and persuaded him to | take up print-making, rather than architecture, as a profession. On his urging, Rosenberg entered the School | of Engraving at the Royal College of rt, London, and became a student under Malcolm Osborne. During his first year there he produced no less than 20 plates, and all of fine quality. Since 1925 he has surged rapidly | ahead, and the sum of his output is | now quite imposing. But each plate | is made with the care and love which goes into a single masterpeice. Ro- senberg never slights, or hurries, or fakes. He is an etcher, inherently, and par excellence; there are and have been few like him. Examine carefully any one of his thirty-four etchings in this exhibition, and this fact will become obvious. And how stimulating and delightful they are! Infinitely more so than the buildings | dered. represented, fine as they may be, for is a recumbent camel by Eugenie |characteristic subject, knowingly ct, the artist in his interpretation shares Gershoy, a “Reclining Nude” and .ltnmcribed. Two paintings of hogs articular exhibition. By those in 8a8y—edmirably suited for the place siope, in which motion is well indi- | have been set forth by the painters. > o with the behalder his own enthusiasm | they are to fill. By Leila Mechlin. NDER the title “New Horizons in American Art” a compre- hensive exhibition of work done under the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Admin- istration was set forth in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in October. A cross-section of this collection is now on display in the United States National Museum, Natural History Building. The purpose of these exhibitions is to make visual report to the public of one year's activity on the part of the Federal Government in this particu- lar fleld. In New York 400 works were shown, selected by an impartial critic, the curator of the Museum of Modern Art, from several thousand available; an elaborately illustrated catalogue with a foreword by Holger | Cahill, director of the project, was issued, and much interest and dis- | cussion were aroused. The selectio: shown here consists of the best of these 400 so honored and approved. | As the Federal Art Project is broad in scope and Nation-wide in extent, | the current exhibition covers a diver- sified range in locale and activity. | Sculpture in wood and stone, paint- | ings made by children of the under- | privileged, illustrations for an index | of American design, lithographs, wood block etchings, paintings in oils and water colors, murals in fresco, egg | tempera and other media are all included, by artists living in all parts of the United States, the majority of | whom, incidentally, it is said, are between the ages of 20 and 30. The Federal Art Project of the W. P. A. is primarily a relief measure, | 90 per cent of those on its rolls being | unemployed. It has provided over} 5,000 painters, sculptors, print-mak- ers, designers, teachers and others; intimately associated with the devel- | opment of the arts, with a living | wage. The accruing works represem{ the artists’ equivalent—produced with | gratitude and enthusiasm—but an essential equivalent just the same. | Also, it must be remembered that many of these artists have not had | time, or opportunity, until now to win their spurs. With over 5,000 practicing artists in the country who | had won reputation and had to sus- tain it. there was not much chanc for an up-coming crop of equal num- | ber to get foothold on the somewhat | mythical “ladder of fame.” It is to this submerged half that the Federal | Bulletin of Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART —Permanent collection of American paintings and bronzes; the Clark collection of European art; Barye bronzes, prints and drawings. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM—Permanent collec- tions, Evans, Gellatly, Ralph Cross Johnson, Harriet Lane Johnson and Herbert Ward African sculptures. NATURAL HISTORY BUILD- ING, UNITED STATES NA- TIONAL MUSEUM—"Horizons in American Art"—An exhibi- tlon of work produced under the W. P. A. Art Project. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, DIVISION OF GRAPHIC ARTS—Color etchings by Ga- brielle de V. Clements, Ellen Day Hale, Margaret V. Hoyt and Lesley Jackson. FREER GALLERY OF ART— Permanent collections Whistler paintings, etchings, drawings and the Peacock Room, Ori- ental paintings, bronzes, pot- tery, miniatures, etc. ART GALLERY, HOWARD UNI- VERSITY—Exhibition of con- temporary prints. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GAL- LERY—Paintings by old and modern masters; oils and water colors and a few works in sculpture. TEXTILE MUSEUM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA— Permanent collection rugs, tap- estries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Open Mon- days and Wednesdays and Fri- days, 2 to 5 pm. Admission by card obtainable at office of George Hewitt - Myers, 730 Fifteenth street. THE ARTS CLUB OF WASH- INGTON—Exhibition of water colors by Ruth Perkins Safford and etchings by Louis Rosen- erg. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DI- VISION OF FINE ARTS—Ex- hibition of recent accessions; Pennell lithographs; gdrawings by American illustrators. Ex- * hibition of original illustrations by Walter Appleton Clark—-re- cent accessions. Pictorfal pho- tographs of the Statue of Lib- erty by Jeanette Grifith. PUBLIC LIBRARY, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Main build- ing, exhibition of prints by Sheffield Kagy. LITTLE GALLERY, INTIMATE BOOKSHOP — Paintings by Margaret Covey. L GALLERY OF MODERN; MAS- TERS—Paintings and drawings by Virginia Clark and Ted Egri. - | sidered at all. | matter of the mural paintings—can harge the social content of the work is especially and repeatedly emphasized, but the effect of the work | to be noted in the mural designs of | composition of a group of buffal pon the public, both in immediate eaction and through extended in- |which ere for the Police Building at| Lawrence Lebduska of New York has | an fluence, seems not to have been con- | Saugus. Hester Miller Murray, Kath- ' come a carefully ren For instance, in the :erlne O'Brien and Ethel Spears have |a “Farm Team"”; Jack Levine of one read or study in a room the walls of which represent unceasing motion, turmoil, if not confusion? Is one cheered or comforted, if an in-patient | There is very excellent drawing also Elizabeth Tracy of Massachusetts, | all represented children and their | activities, and with a certain naive charm. Gustat Dalstrom's “Early | Bookmaker” series should also be 'commended as well-designed and Famous Hotel Expert Declares American People Have Forgotten & e Rush and Tear in Life of Today Are Driving Out Al Leisureliness. By Lucy Salamanca. IME was when a lady (and I mean lady!) ordered a steak, mashed potatoes with plenty of gravy, please, two or three side dishes, a goodly supply of hot bis- cuits with two squares of butter a bis- cuit, nonchalantly tossed two lumps of sugar into every cup of coffee and passed her plate without the quiver of an eyelash for a second helping of dessert. And that, says Robert, fa- mous Washington maitre d’hotel, was only about six years ago! As for the man of the house—well, he went through six or seven courses every night, with the proper wine be- tween courses, the proper send-off and the proper liqueur closing, and he conversed eloquently about canvas- backed ducks and planked steaks and never expected to rise from the table under two hours. The world, sighs Robert, has for- gotten how to dine. Now the people only eat. And Robert feels that with good dining has gone much of the graclous leisureliness of life. “People don’t fake time to dine to- day,” Robert declares. “All life has speeded up to such an extent that the \fine art of eating bids fair to go the way of all tradition. You can’t dine with your eye on a clock, and the con- stant rush and tear of the life of the century has penetrated even to the dining rooms of today.” Certainly Robert, if any one, is en- titled to know. Since 1913 he has served the public of Washington that has sought entertainment and-pleas- ure about round tables set with snowy cloths and gieaming with well-polished glassware and silver. Where people have gathered to eat, there has been the statesmen and diplomats of an era that days in advance for its benquets and receptions, an era ‘when courtly gentlemen adjusted their black-ribboned OR Robert'’s experience in the Capital has included service in the old Willard, where he did his bit toward making many a Gridiron din- ner the talk of the time, and he knew the distinction of opening to the pub- lic the old Shoreham Hotel that once stood on a downtown corner and was the gathering place of every famous statesman or diplomat who ever came to Washington. Those, declares Robert, | | wistfully, were, indeed, “the good old | days!” Life moved at a leisurely enough pace, but there was time really to en- joy the good things every new day offered. Conversation, as an art, had not died. It flourished in the cafes and grill rooms of the Capital; it provided the motivating sparkle to the guests sitting about luxuriously laden boards. After every course a differ- ent wine was poured tenderly into the proper glass. White wines' and red wines, dry wines, sparkling wines—all carefully chosen as an aid to the di- \gestion of the particular course it fol- lowed. - And the guests at table had time really to taste them, delight in their flavor, catch the gleam of light across the liquid gold or red of their B, 19EE0E iigéi giE‘E i '§- ! i : | cated ‘but photographically; Hester 1 Perhaps in this mechanical, swift- | Miller Murray presents an unusual | moving age, this is our preoccuption. | lo at The graphic arts have suffered | from | much during the years of depression, | d the print market has not made as rapid recovery as might have been | anticipated, but, strangely enough, in | this section the most mature work ight, rather vaguely painted; dered painting of ‘ | Massachusetts shows a double pom'nit‘ | entitled “Conference,” by no means | in this whole exhibition is to be | flattering to those portrayed, nor en- | found. Here such well-known and | | gagingly rendered; more humorous by | accomplished printmakers as Mabel | | far is Gregorio Prestopino's “American ' Dwight, Harry Sternberg, Emil Gan- ¢ ! centration and attention they gave | to legislative bills up on the hill. | “ROBERT. . . . he comments on a lost art. Ronm'rmw-lloomylneanm- or & minimum of them—on a bill of plation of the considerations that | fare designed for women.” must bear upon the compilation of a menu for the consumption of women. But he brightens when he reflects that the men have stood by them to & greater extent. “The two-inch steak, rare and red and running with its own juices, still holds the place of honor in a man’s appetite,” says Robert. “Invariably, “When we must prepare & menu that is to be served to women, we gite out attention, of course, to the daintier fare. When a man eats salad, it’s be- cause he has been threatened or cajoled into the belief that it's ‘good for him.’ second figure in marble or stone, “The Robe,” by Samuel Cashwan, which have both plastic and elemental qual- ities. JUST what this vast governmental activity in the fleld of art will eventually bring forth is interesting matter for speculation. Up to the present time there seems to have been neither dictation nor censorship, and |in & pen—one at feeding time and | the other during “siesta”—have at- tracted much attention, and for tech- nical skill in transcription “Wethered Shingles” may be reekoned among her best, | | Rosenberg’s Etchings. OUIS ROSENBERG is, without doubt among our foremost etchers and designed not to detract from the conviviality in hand. Whereas in that earlier era the long, sumptuous repast | served to sustain the company until next morning’s breakfast, today the public nibbles at food from the cock- tail hour on through a hasty dinner, & night club supper or a midnight snack—even unto scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon before separating at dawn. OBERT'S experience in serving the public began when he was 14 years of age. Being European born, with an American father and a Swiss mother, he grew up at a time and place where youths selected their fu- ture calling and were apprenticed to it. At 14, then, he was apprenticed to a hotel in Berlin, Germany. He began, literally, at the first round of the ladder, assisting in the dining room, becoming familiar with the wine cellar, and receiving, as he climbed, a thorough training in what was known as “the front of the house.” From the Stephanie Hotel in Baden- Baden to the Kaiser Hof at Bad Kis- singen, then on to the south of France, from Nice to Evian Le Bain in Swit- zerland, then to the San Remo on the Riviera, London next and, in 1906, from London to the United States. Maitre-d’hotels of the day were con- centrating on New York. So did park. One of the most famous cafes of the day he had the pleasure of o] . That was the Cafe Martint at Twenty-sixth and Broadway, where he drew patronage for three years before attending the call of the Belle- vue-Stratford in Philadelphia. In 1913 Robert left the Bellevue- Two years later Robert launched Le Paradis and Club Chantecler—a subscription night club that knew a e-year vogue. When he left to take st the pew Shoreham Hotel, How to Din {Robert Remembers Days He Spent Serving Patrons in Many Great Cities. & the Club Chantecler went the way of St. Mark's. OR six years now Robert has watched the Washington picture from the present Shoreham Hotel. There is one decided difference, he points out, in serving the public in Washington and serving them in New York, for example. you must please the same crowd, day in and day out, night in and night out. You can't relax your vigilance for a moment, for it is the same groups of guests that return for the succeeding meal. In New York things are different. Cafes and restaurants can adopt & more independent attitude toward the public in the metropolis. Ten chances to one, they will never see again— outside of residential hotels—the pa- tron who pays tonight's bill. If he has been pleased they are glad. But if he has been displeased they do not permit themselves to worry unduly. “In this position,” says Robert, “there is one thing a maitre d’hotel learns above everything else. It is to know people.” Robert declares that he has grown so0 accustomed to judging people that he can tell almost by looking at some one, by observing the manner in which he walks into a rcom and looks about, what to expect. People, he says, fall definitely into types. A man who looks about him in a certain way, speaks a certain way, has a certain appearance, will act according to definitely defined lines every time. “It almost makes you believe,” says Robert, “that there is a whole lot in the theory that as people think and act, so are their natures reflected in their outward appearance. In some cases that shfuld be a warning. In others a consolation.” But always and ever, asserts this famous maitre d’hotel, it is the well- traveled man, the man who has seen life, who knows what constitutes a good meal and can appreciate it when it is set before him, who makes the least fuss. to. It is the only way he has ever been able to rmm- In Washington | “The man who blusters,” says Rob- | ert quietly, “is to be pitied, for he has | and given to the subjects new inter- pretation. It is his vision which opens | our eyes and makes manifest to us | untold and unrealized beauty. This | is & great gift. Prof. Cook to Lecture on Spanish Art. ROF. WALTER W. 8. COOK of | the department of fine arts of New York University will give the first of this season’s series of lectures {on art under the auspices of the Washington Society of the Fine Arts in the United States Chamber of iCommerce auditorium next Wednes~ | day evening at 8:30 o'clock. The sub- ject, “Art in Spain,” will be most timely, because of the haunting fear | of the destruction of masterpieces in- cident to the present unhappy war- tare. Prof. Cook, who is one of the lead- ing experts and authorities on Span- ish art, was in Spain last Summer and witnessed some of the ruthless destruction of world masterpieces of | architecture, sculpture and painting, | which for generations have been this country’s proudest possessions. He will incidentally show some slides of photographs taken at that time. One of El Greco's most famous paintings is reported missing from Toledo, and what will be the loss to treasures in | the National Gallery, Madrid, through | bombing from the air now in progress, none yet can know. Not merely Spain, but the world at large, will be im- poverished by this barbaric ruthless- ness. | Kagy’s Prints at the Public Library. SH!FP!ELD KAGY'S exhibition of prints at the Public Library will well repay attention. With appar- ently equal facility he makes litho- graphs, etchings and block prints, adapting his manner to his medium. Of the works shown his block prints are undoubtedly the most striking and vivid. Quite & number of these are of industrial themes—working men in the midst of their labors. Others are of contemporary scenes— one entitled “The American Tragedy” shows & Negro hung from the branch of a tree in front of his own cabin. But occasionally Mr. Kagy leaves realism behind and reaches into the realm of thought and aspiration. The heads of three praying nuns, well grouped, are of this character. This is an aquatint with etched outline printed in tint—and very well done. Also in lithography Mr. Kagy shows competence. The subjects which he chooses for lithographic treatment are not so striking as perhaps they might be, but the treatment is skillful and good. Mr. Kagy is teaching this Winter in the Abbott School, conducting classes in the various graphic arts. Fewer Prunes. UNES have taken their place among those crops which are running short. The world crop this year will be about 252,000 tons, & re= duction under last years total of 330,000 toms. | | |

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